Riley Hickman charged from 5th to 1st on Friday at Cleveland.
Riley Hickman came into Friday night’s Southern All Stars race at Cleveland Speedway with the series title essentially secured so all he had to worry about was going for the win in ‘The Gobbler’. And the Chattanooga driver did just that as he charged to the lead of the event late in the going and drove on to collect $5,000 for his efforts.
Mike Marlar looked to be an early contender when he set the fast time in qualifying Group A and overall among the 35 cars signed in for competition with a time of 13.55 seconds around the clay oval facility. Also earning locked in spots for the feature out of that group were Billy Ogle, Jr., Hickman, Jason Welshan and Vic Hill.
David Payne was fastest in Group B time-trials as he posted a best lap of 13.75 seconds. Also earning starting positions for the feature from that group were Kent Robinson, Derek Ellis, Aaron Ridley and Cory Hedgecock.
Ray Cook and Austin Kirkpatrick won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the starting grid for the main event.
At the start of the 50-lap feature, Robinson used his outside front row starting spot to seize the early lead. During the initial battling for position at the start of the race, pole sitter Marlar suffered damage to his car and was forced to pull into the pit area after bringing out a lap 2 caution when he slowed on track.
Once the race resumed, the battling would be fierce as drivers jockeyed for position throughout the field. It was Hickman who would prove to be the most successful in those battles as he one by one picked off those ahead of him from his 5th starting spot. On lap 14 he wrested 3rd away from Ogle then set his sights on the top-2 cars of Robinson and Payne.
By the halfway mark of the race, the top-3 runners were tightly bunched as they fought through slower traffic while also fighting each other for the right to lead the race in its closing laps.
Meanwhile, other struggles were taking place on the track. Just about a straightway behind the lead trio, Ogle, Ellis and Welshan were engaged in a battle for the 4th position as they too worked around lapped cars.
At lap 35, Hickman was finally able to grab the 2nd spot away from Payne. And just two laps later, the #R1 car surged around Robinson the capture the lead of the race.
The race’s second and final caution flag waved on lap 43 when the #99 car driven by Ellis appeared to lose a wheel and tire then spin into the backstretch wall. Ogle also suffered significant damaged to the front of his Stacy Boles owned machine during that same incident. That suddenly, two drivers who appeared to be on their way to top-5 results were knocked from competition.
After the final restart, Hickman was able to pull away and drive to the checkered flag. Following the leader to the finish line were Kent Robinson, David Payne, Jason Welshan, Aaron Ridley, Cory Hedgecock, Austin Kirkpatrick, Vic Hill, Ray Cook and Nick Latham.
